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Monday, May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day! I hope that the weather where you are is as gorgeous as it is here. Despite the fact that we've been outside since Friday, due to our camping trip, we were outside, here at home, again, all morning. We're relishing having BJ home, with us, for one more day. Matter of fact, while I'm typing this post and the kiddos are resting, he's rebuilding our picnic table, for us, and I'm soooo elated! Yippeee!

which is found in the pages of the above publication, and Betsy Veldman's "HI there" creation, which was inspired by Jessica's...
for you all, today. I just love how all the embellishments, in these beauties, create such a fun, playful look, while maintaining a certain cohesiveness. Here's what I came up with.

I started by stamping the medallion stamp, in a grid pattern, in Barely Banana ink, on white cardstock. The stamped cardstock was, then, adhered to the kraft, cardstock, card base and given a healthy dose of Chamomile and Chai, distress inks. I, then, wrapped a red, saddle-stitched ribbon, vertically, around the card face and tied it in a bow, before beginning the embellishment of each medallion. Beginning in the top left corner, I adhered a pink button, embellished with pearls. Moving across the top row, I adhered a red, star-shaped, cookie cutter embellishment and a chipboard heart, which had been painted, with acrylic paint, and glittered. In the second row, I adhered, with dimensionals, a stamped, in Jet Black, StazOn ink, ladybug, which had, also, been watered colored, in shades of Real Red, hand cut out, and embellished with gemstones. The butterfly was stamped, in Pretty in Pink ink, on white cardstock; glittered; hand cut out; embellished with varying sizes of red gemstones; and adhered just at its center in order to give the wings lift off the card face surface. The last medallion, in the second row, boasts an epoxy brad. In the last row, I adhered a red, heart-shaped button, laced with white string, tied in a bow, and a pink, felt, flower brad; and in the final, stamped medallion, I stamped, in Real Red ink, the "Girly, YOU ROCK!" sentiment.

Well, I'd better go get dinner ready for the grill and see how that picnic table is coming along. Maybe it'll be ready in time for dinner :). Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

This post has been scheduled, because, right now, we're, most likely, enjoying our last few hours, of the Memorial Day weekend, camping, hiking, swimming, etc. at the lake. We're taking Monday to recover a bit :), as well as get all the yard work, that is, always, difficult to do during a work week, done. Anyway, I'm sure that I'll have lots of pictures, for you, later this week; but, for today, I've got The Shabby Tea Room'sPolka Dot Tea Party challenge, to create a card or project, using either a tea or tea party theme or polka dots or both and this photograph as inspiration.

While I love the idea of the tea party theme, I, really, like to try to use these challenges to inspire me to make cards with specific recipients in mind. Believe it or not, most of my cards, that you see here on my blog, actually, have a new home, before they're even posted. Anyway, I wasn't loving the tea party idea for my parents' anniversary card, but those polka dots had my creative side running wild. Here's what I came up with.

I started this card by painting the square piece of chipboard, boasting a cut out heart, with acrylic paint; glittered it, before it had time to dry; and set it aside to dry completely. I, then, stamped the polka dots, in Moonlight White ink, on the Old Olive, cardstock card face and clear embossed the "HOPE this year IS YOUR BEST ONE YET" sentiment, right over the polka dots, in the bottom right corner of the card face. The piece of pink, polka dot, patterned paper was punched across its top edge; machine stitched, with a white-threaded, machine stitch, across its top, just below the punching, and bottom edges; distressed with Chamomile and Chai inks; and adhered, to the card face, just above the sentiment. I, then, distressed the edges of the entire card face, as well. The prepped chipboard piece was backed with a heart-filled, polka dot, patterned paper and adhered, over the pink, polka dot, patterned paper, directly above the sentiment. Finally, I wrapped a sheer, white, polka dot ribbon around the card face, over the pink, polka dot, patterned paper, between the lower, stitched edge and the chipboard piece; tied it in a dressy bow, just left of center; and embellished it with a pink button, laced with white string.

Friday, May 28, 2010

The card I came up with is for my sister, who just so happens to be celebrating her birthday, today. Happy Birthday, James!

I started her card by edging a piece of green, polka dot, patterned paper, which had been punched along its left side, with a strip of black, patterned paper. I, then, adhered them to the kraft, cardstock, card base and machine stitched a white-threaded, zig-zag stitch all around their edges before distressing them with Chamomile and Chai inks. I, then, painted a chipboard tag with acrylic paint; distressed its edges with Chamomile and Chai inks; glittered it; and laced a sheer, kraft-colored ribbon through its top, before tying it in a thick, pretty bow. After the tag was adhered to the card face, I stamped the "Happy Birthday" sentiment, in Basic Black ink, just below it. A row of green buttons, laced on a length of twine, was, then, adhered just to the right of the punched, patterned paper edge. The butterfly was stamped, in Basic Black ink, on white cardstock; distressed with Chamomile and Chai inks; glittered; hand cut out; glued, just at its center, to the chipboard tag; and embellished, at the body, with green gemstones.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

So, I don't normally do a lot of card sketch challenges. I'm not sure why other than, sometimes, I just cannot seem to get my style to fit the sketch. Then, I end up throwing a lot of perfectly good paper goodies away, which is, totally, NOT a good thing! Anyway, I'm making an exception for this week's 2 Sketches 4 YouSketch 53; because I'd, really, love, love, LOVE to win the WPLUS9 prize!

and came up with something that I'm, actually, really, proud of! Maybe, I'll have to try out a few more of these in the near future :).
I started this card by stamping the flower images, in Lavender Lace, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, and Certainly Celery inks, on a piece of white cardstock. I, then, distressed its edges, as well as the edges of the light blue, polka dot, patterned paper, and machine stitched white-threaded, straight stitches around both. The stamped cardstock was, then, framed with Certainly Celery cardstock; and the patterned paper was adhered to the Barely Banana, cardstock, card base. I, then, adhered a strip of blue and white, checkered, patterned paper over the polka dot, patterned paper and machine stitched a white-threaded, zig-zag stitch down the length of its sides. The "you're never more than a thought away." sentiment was white embossed on a strip of vellum, which was folded under on either end and adhered to the back side of the Certainly Celery, cardstock frame. Finally, a sheer, purple, polka dot ribbon was wrapped around the stamped cardstock; tied in a bow; and dressed up with a purple button, laced with white thread and embellished with a gemstone; before the stamped cardstock was adhered, with dimensionals, to the card face center, over the patterned papers.
Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a great day!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

We just got back from a crazy trip to the mall. I'm not a mall person. Matter of fact, I don't think we've been to the mall since we had our family pictures taken in November. But I wanted to look for a birthday gift for my sister, and Adina, really, needed to have her 18-month pictures taken. We've rescheduled her shoot like half a dozen times for one reason or another. It was a mess! She did great at smiling, as long as her mouth was full of Cheerios. The tricky part was getting her to hold still long enough to capture that smile. I thought that I'd walk out with no pictures, at all; but a few, truly, did end up being good, and I'm not saying so just because I'm her Mom :). Check out this sweet barrette, that I made, for her to wear, for her pictures, using The Purl Bee'sMolly's Sketchbook: Rose Barrettes tutorial.

I started this layout by layering the floral, patterned paper on the Apricot Appeal, cardstock base. I, then, added two strips of pink paper and took both pages to the sewing machine for a few aqua-threaded, straight stitches. A couple strips of punched, aqua cardstock, as well as pink and brown, stripe, patterned paper, brought me right back to the sewing machine for some aqua-threaded, ziz-zag stitches. The final layer, before adhering the photos, was the pink and white, polka dot, patterned paper, which was, also, machine stitched, with an aqua-threaded, straight stitch, across the top and bottom. I, then, added lots of word fetti stickers, as well as a few, pink, flower gemstones, across the bottom of the layout, just below the patterned papers, on the Apricot Appeal cardstock.

That brought me to the individual pages.

This side of the layout boasts a length of sheer, aqua ribbon; layered, printed, paper blossoms, embellished with buttons, one laced with white string, tied in a bow, and the other dazzled with gemstones; and tiny, sticker flowers, decked out with gemstones.

The last thing I did on this side of the layout was paint a little acrylic in the bottom right corner of the pink, polka dot, patterned paper for the May 7, 2009 date. I carried that paint over, onto the other side of the layout...
to create a frame for my journaling, which reads, I just cannot resist taking naked baby pictures of you. You, truly, are, absolutely, without a doubt, perfectly, gorgeous in every way.

The length of sheer, aqua ribbon ends, laced through a piece of chipboard and tied off with a button, laced with white string and tied in a bow, on this side of the layout.

The piece of chipboard was painted with acrylic paint and glittered to frame more printed, paper blossoms, embellished with gemstones. Finally, this side of the layout, also, has plenty more sticker flowers, dressed up with gemstones.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

You read that right. I've got a super, tasty dinner, as well as a scrumptious dessert, for you all, today. Our HyVee grocery store has a recipe case that, always, attracts our attention. They're really good at swapping/cycling their recipe cards, so we, frequently, find something that we're up for trying. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we tried their Herb-Crusted Talpia, and I'm just going to say yuuummm! I've, simply, got to share it with you all.Herb-Crusted Talapia

4-6 oz. tilapia fillets, thawed if frozen

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1 Tbsp. olive oil

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1/4 cup Dijon mustard

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3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

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3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

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2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme

salt and pepper, to taste

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Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse fillets, and pat dry with paper towels. Brush a baking sheet with oil, and place fillets, skin-side-down, on baking sheet. Spread mustard, evenly, on fillets. In a medium bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Press breadcrumb mixture, evenly, on tops of fillets. Bake 12 minutes or until fish flakes, easily, with a fork, and topping is golden. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans. Lightly stir eggs, in a medium bowl, with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together, with whisk, until blended. Set aside. Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together, really good, with another wire whisk. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined. Pour into cake pans, and then, drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After about ten minutes, remove from pans; and cool, completely, on a wire rack.

Sift sugar and set aside. Beat cream cheese and butter, on high, until creamy. Add vanilla. Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition. Frost away!

Oh! And look what came in the mail today!

It's Ezekiel's 2nd grade curriculum, and he is super excited!

Also, just because it, completely, made me smile, check out this sweet video of a couple baby moose playing in a lawn sprinkler. It's just too cute for words! You all know how much I love moose, and I have a major soft spot, in my heart, for country music. Have a wonderful day!

Monday, May 24, 2010

So, today, I thought that I'd show you all this cute, little card, that I, actually, made and sent awhile back.

I started this card by stamping the critters, in Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie inks, on squares of white cardstock. I, then, distressed their edges, as well as the edges of the white, cardstock, card base, with Chamomile and Chai inks. After adhering the squares to a piece of Brilliant Blue cardstock, I stamped the "i {love} you, friend." sentiment, in Brilliant Blue ink, near the center of its base. I, then, used my white gel pen to create a frame around the stamped squares, beginning and ending at the sentiment. Before adhering it to the card face, I layered a strip of orange, polka dot, patterned paper, which had been trimmed, down either side, with strips of punched, Pumpkin Pie cardstock, right down the center. I, also, wrapped a length of white string, vertically, around the card face, over the patterned paper. I, then, added a few, hand cut, Garden Green leaves.
I gave them their vein lines by using a rotary scoring blade and the indention of my Fiskars cutting board. Jana Eubanks has a really great tutorial, for creating these jungle leaves, here. I'm feeling the need to scrap some zoo pictures :). Finally, I embellished with a few, Pumpkin Pie buttons, laced with white string.

This card is for Gavin.
Gavin is the last kiddo on Jennifer's Cards for Kids list. According to Jennifer's blog, Gavin is a four-year-old boy battling Tay-Sachs Disease, an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes relentless deterioration of mental and physical abilities. There is, currently, no known cure for this disease nor preventive treatment to slow down or stop the brain from regressing. The doctors are at a dead-end, but the family continues to fight and hope for a miracle. Gavin has a one-year-old sister, Audrey Bella, who has been diagnosed with the Tay-Sachs gene but, fortunately, does not have the disease.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

It has been a crazy past couple of days. We had beautiful weather for our yard sale, despite the weeks and weeks of rain we've been having. Matter of fact, I'm, actually, sunburned. Owie! We got rid of all the "big" stuff and came super close to our sale goal, which was to pay for BJ's mission trip, next month, in full, but did come up just a little short. Fortunately, I have some little girl's clothes that are in super shape and only a year old that I'll be able to consign. That should (crossing my fingers), easily, bring us to our goal. Yippeee!

Ezekiel, also, made a few bucks selling lemonade. He's such a great, little salesman!
So, I've got a sweet, little, strawberry card, that was up on the Cards Bloglast Friday, for you all, today. It's so, super exciting to have someone, really, appreciate my work :). I'm, literally, all smiles.

I started this card by layering the green plaid and vine, patterned, glitter, paper strips over the left side of the strawberry, patterned, glitter paper, which had a white-threaded, machine, straight stitch sewn all around its edges. I, then, continued machine stitching white-threaded, straight stitches down both sides of the vine paper and white-threaded, zig-zag stitches between the green plaid and strawberry paper connections. All layers were, then, adhered to the Ruby Red, cardstock, card base. The larger strawberry was sketched and hand cut from Ruby Red cardstock. I, then, hand sewed little, pink beads to it, for the seeds, and adhered, with dimensionals, a sketched, hand cut from Green Galore cardstock, and glittered stem. Finally, I wrapped a green, gingham ribbon around the card face, over the vine, paper strip; tied it in a bow; and embellished it with a Ruby Red button, laced with white string, tied in a bow, and a "because nice matters" sentiment flag, which had been stamped, in Ruby Red ink, on white cardstock and hand cut out.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

You didn't think that you were rid of me for the day... Did you? I just had to run take care of a few things, but I'm back and have got Embellish'sDimension Color Challenge for you.

Here's what I came up with.
I started this card by machine stitching a white-threaded, straight stitch around the outside edges of the patterned paper and adhering it to the Chocolate Chip, cardstock, card face. I, then, cut a few, extra polka dots, from the patterned paper, and adhered them, with dimensionals, over the existing polka dots. A fun, leafy ribbon was, then, wrapped around the card face; tied in a bow; and embellished with a Really Rust button, laced with white string. I, also, tucked the "thanks for {owl} you do" sentiment, which had been stamped, in Really Rust and Chocolate Chip inks, and hand cut out, under the button's right edge and popped it off the card face with dimensionals. The branch was stamped, in Chocolate Chip and Old Olive inks, on white cardstock; glittered; hand cut out; and adhered, just at the branch, so the leaves could lift up for more dimension, yet again, in the bottom left corner of the card face. Finally, I stamped the owl, in Chocolate Chip ink, on white cardstock; glittered his feathers; hand cut him out; and adhered him, over the branch, with dimensionals. I, also, couldn't help stamping in more Chocolate Chip ink, cutting, and adhering his eyes with more dimensionals. It really makes him pop!
I might've gone a little overboard with the dimensionals on this one, but I'd, still, love to hear what you think! Oh! And speaking of dimensionals, check out this cute card Ezekiel made for his Daddy.

He picked all the paper and ink colors, as well as the Wild About You stamp set and punch, and even wanted to brush the edges with distress ink and clear emboss the sentiment. I have to turn it sideways for you to really appreciate all the foam adhesive on this one.

He did such a great job! I didn't realize how closely he, actually, watched me papercraft :). Well, I'm off to finish getting our yard sale items together. It all begins tomorrow! Wish us luck!

I, really, love how sweet this layout is! Although, how can I possibly go wrong with my baby girl as the subject :)?!

I started this page by layering the cherry, patterned paper on the green, diamond, patterned paper. I, then, machine stitched a white-threaded, zig-zag stitch between the two. The pictures and journal box, which had been punched across the top and bottom, were added next. A punched strip of blue, polka dot, patterned paper was, also, added to the left side of the photo to the far left of the page. I, then, machine stitched a white-threaded, straight stitch, across the tops of the photographs and journal box, running over onto the cherry, patterned paper, and down the length of the left edge of the cherry patterned paper, beginning above and ending way below the far left photo. The journal box reads, I just couldn't resist snapping all these gorgeous pictures of you hanging out on my bed, reading one of your library books, and looking so sweet. I'm sure that there will be many more just like it as we eagerly watch you grow. It was dressed up with a"sweet baby" die-cut title; a strip of red, polka dot, patterned paper, punched along its bottom edge; a May 30, 2009 date card; a "Pretty AS A PICTURE" butterfly, dimensional sticker; a "six months" die-cut; a star strip die-cut; a star tab; lots of gemstones; and a paper, box flower.

The box flower was punched out and embellished with a chipboard button, stacked with a Pure Poppy button and laced with a sheer, polka dot ribbon, tied in a bow. The chipboard button was painted with acrylic paint, distressed with Chamomile and Chai inks, and glittered.

This side of the layout boasts all the same goodies. As well as, machine stitching a white-threaded, zig-zag stitch between the main and inside papers, I, also, carried it up between the red, polka dot and cherry, patterned papers. The far right side of the red, polka dot, patterned paper was trimmed with a punched strip of blue, polka dot, patterned paper. I, also, added the same, white-threaded, straight stitching, across the tops and down the length of the far right photo, running over onto the red, polka dot, patterned paper. A chipboard bracket; a row of gemstones; and a couple more box flowers, dressed up with Pure Poppy and/or chipboard buttons, laced with white string, were the perfect finishing touches. The chipboard pieces were prepared the same as described above.
It's raining, AGAIN, here; but we're going to have a fabulous day, anyway! You do the same!

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I am a former kindergarten teacher turned wife of 16 years to BJ and stay-at-home, homeschool mommy to three beautiful gifts from God, Ezekiel (14), Adina (9), and Kaden (4). When I'm not taking care of or playing with my family, you can find me cooking, baking, gardening, sewing, and of course, papercrafting. My love for the latter started over thirteen years ago, but my love for creating began before birth. I feel overwhelmingly blessed by all God has given me and know that if I continue to keep my eyes on Him, He'll keep me soaring.

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All images are copyright Jinny Newlin. Shared images are not to be copied, without written consent, and/or used for publications or design contests. If you find yourself inspired, and I hope you do, and would like to share your idea on the internet, please note where you found the original idea. Thanks!